𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐥𝐞 || tbob

𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬

Beatrice stared down at the phone number she held in her hand. Rafe (Wibberly, according to the paper she held in her hand) had scribbled it on a post-it note in the lobby after booking her a room for three nights, urging her to call if she had no one else to call and things went south. 

She folded the paper in half, and then in half again, before sliding into the small pocket of her jeans, telling herself she wasn't going to use it. 

She pulled her bloody jeans out of the duffle, hoping she had folded them just so-so that the blood stains missed her other clothes. While the other dirty clothes could just be thrown in the hotel wash, the bloody jeans would have to go. Her shirt was black, and once the blood dried, it'd probably be safe to toss in the wash with the rest of her clothes. The stains wouldn't be obvious to rushing hotel staff, and she needed the shirt.

She grabbed her last clean sweater and pair of jeans and walked into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. She stripped out of her damp shirt and her jeans. Her bra underneath was white and stained a reddish-brown. With a sigh, she unclasped it and tossed it to the side. It too would be tossed down the garbage chute along with her jeans. 

She stared at herself in the mirror; a 5'5" white girl with black hair. A handful of hair at the front of her face was bleached white, but days of grime discolored it. The glasses covering her blue and grey eyes had cracked during the scuffle with Henderson, and she took them off, tossing them onto the bathroom counter. He vision was blurry as she continued to examine herself in the mirror, but it was good enough. Dried blood tainted the skin under her breasts and collected in the hair at waistband of her underwear. Chewed nails scratched at it, and it came off in reddish brown flakes. 

She crinkled her nose in disgust.

She turned the water on before she finally stepped out of her boxer briefs, allowing the water to warm up before she stepped under the spray. Almost instantly the water turned murky as it washed the blood away and down the drain. She scrubbed at the happy trail on her stomach, making sure none of Henderson's blood matted in the dark curls. 

Beatrice tilted her head up towards the spray of hot steamy water, closing her eyes and feeling the sharp hits of water drops on her eye lids. If she were back home, Tera would be standing in front of her, taking the brunt of the water. Bee's arms would be wapped around Tera and Tera would push her off, laughing about how hard it was to shower when Bee was latched onto her. And Bee would let Tera wash the soap suds from her body before wrapping her arms around Tera again. The two would just stand there together until the water turned cold. 

Murder on the bills, but Bee wouldn't trade those 30 or minutes every morning for anything. God, she missed Tera.

- - -

"Sorry you didn't find anything." Michael offered Kate a hug as they stood outside that royal elf palace he and Wilamena lived in with their one son. "Maybe something will come up over the next few days."

"Maybe." Kate sighed. Rafe and the kids were in the car, waiting for her. "I don't know what all Rafe wrote in that book, but I do know he wrote everything he knew about the books, and he knew more than anyone. It might as well be a key to the universe with all that information, in addition to whatever dark magic spells might be in there."

"Why do you think it was stolen? Evil intention?"

Kate shrugged. "Not clear. I don't think there's any positive intention the books can be used for, all they cause is pain and generally make things worse than they were before, but maybe the person wasn't looking for information on the books?"

"I don't mean to sound like Emma," Michael gave a soft, humorless laugh, "but when has anyone not been looking for information about those books?"

"Fair." Michael and Kate came to a stop at the driver's side door of the Wibberly's car. "If they are looking for the books though, we should take precaution. Looking for the books will only lead them to Rafe, which leads them to the kids."

"The palace is always a safe place." Michael leaned in for one last hug. "Just stay in touch."

"Always." Kate smiled, her hand resting on the door handle. 

"Um, this might not be the best time to say this, by the way," Michael said, pushing his hand against the door to keep Kate from opening it. "But I feel like you should know; Wil is pregnant again."

Kate paused for only a brief second before wrapping up Michael tightly. "That's amazing news! Congratulations Michael."

Michael laughed. "Thanks, Kate; we're excited. Sucky timing though."

Kate pulled away with a bright smile. "I think we could all use a bit of good news in this sucky time."

Kate finally slid into the driver's seat and smiled at Rafe. Rafe smiled back, as he always did, even if he was upset. "Guess what." Kate said, putting the key in the ignition to start the car.

"Your brother is finally getting his royal name changed from Rabbit to Michael?"

"No," Kate laughed. "No, he and Wil are going to have another baby."

Rafe's joking smile was replaced by one of sincere happiness. "Oh, that's wonderful!"

"I know! He's excited. I'm going to text Wil later after I call Emma and fill her on what happened today."

"More like what didn't happen today." Rafe muttered, careful to not let the two kids in the back seat overhear.

"Can Aunt Emma come over this weekend?" Gabrielle had perked up at the mention of her aunt. She took after her namesake and adored swords. Emma had been teaching her.

"Um, maybe." Kate said, nevously drumming her fingers against the steering wheel. "I think she might be really busy with work at the moment, but I'll ask."

Kate didn't mention that Emma wasn't quick to let go of a grudge these days, and she was currently holding a huge one against Rafe.

"If Aunt Emma is going to come over, I want to spend time with Grandpa." said Henri. "It's only fair."

Henri, like his grandfather and uncle, enjoyed magical history. Richard would often take him to seminars at Loris, or would take him to the library of the Cambridge Falls mansion to teach him something new. Henri had no interest in learning how to fight, but he seemed to always have his thin nose in a book.

"If Emma comes over, I'll be sure to see if Grandpa will let you spend the night." Kate promised. "But one thing a time; when we get home, you both need to get ready for bed, it's already almost 9."

The group had stayed at the palace longer than expected as Rafe and Kate filled Michael and Wilamena in on what they had found (nothing). The goup of four had ended up brianstroming the hours away.

"Mom!" The twins whined.

"Listen to your mother." Rafe pitched in, tuning around his seat to look at the kids. "It's late and tomorrow is a school day."

"Can't we stay up a little bit?" Gabrielle lifted her hand, pressing her index and thumb fingers close together. 

"You stayed up late last night." Rafe reminded her. The girl huffed, but didn't continue to argue. Rafe shard a smile with Kate.

Stubborn, just like her parents.